Children & Education

The Diary of a Local Mum

Here’s Looking at You, Kid

When you have a baby, everyone seems to want to liken it to either one, or the other, or both of its parents. The little, red, round, bald bundle apparently looks ‘just like you!’ or the ‘spitting image of his/her dad’. Hmm, yes, if you say so… it also bears a striking resemblance to the wrinkled old man who just walked past, but perhaps we shouldn’t go there!

As more and more visitors see your little bundle of joy, these comparisons continue and often become increasingly tenuous – ‘She’s got long fingers like Auntie Annie’, ‘He’ll be tall like Uncle Bert’, ‘Your great Grandpa had that exact same dimple!’. And, while genetically there’s bound to be some family likeness, babies change so much day by day in the early weeks. While one day you’re told they look like one person, the next you’re told they look like someone else…and so it goes on. In truth, unless they’re an identical twin, they have their own totally unique features. They look like themselves.

I’ve often been told that both of my kids look like me – and so has their dad. In fairness, we’ve all got dark hair and dark eyes, so there’s bound to be some similarity! I can rarely see a resemblance, I just see my kids; every inch of their faces so familiar as I’ve watched them grow and change over the years.

Having said that, occasionally I’m floored by a glance, an expression or a photo which suddenly seems to capture something of another family member. Even the way they speak or react to a situation. The similarity can be a look, a gesture or part of their character but all of a sudden you can see what others have claimed to be evident from day one – this unique little person is made up of building blocks from various generations. When they walk just like grandad, or laugh at the exact same things that grandma does on the TV. When they pull the same face that dad does when they concentrate. Or, when your not-so-smart phone’s face recognition technology categorises a picture of you in amongst photos of your son and all of a sudden it’s like looking in a mirror. And then it’s gone again. They’re their own person, but you’ve just caught a glimpse of the small part you’ve contributed.

In many ways, your kids are like an upgraded model – you, Mark II. You can see in them strengths where you have weaknesses, perfections where you have flaws. They love things that you hate (and hate things that you love – the taste for marmite is not hereditary, apparently. My stash of Twiglets is safe!). For every similarity there’s a difference, and that’s great. It really wouldn’t do if we were all carbon copies. While every now and then it’s nice to spot a likeness in my kids, I also love to sit back and watch in wonder at everything that I am not. There may be familiar snippets of other people in there but they have their own unique characteristics, appearances, opinions, likes, dislikes, strengths and interests and watching these emerge as they grow and their character develops is fascinating. So, here’s looking at you, kid. You’re your own person … and you absolutely rock.

By Helen Young

Girl Guides

Once Again Girlguiding Rises To the Challenge

The pandemic has been described as being like the war for community spirit and resilience. Girl guides were very active in both World Wars, helping and supporting within communities. In this pandemic, girls in guiding aged from 5-18 have been ‘Doing their Best’.

In Amber Valley units of Rainbows, Brownies, Guides and Rangers have kept in contact virtually and through activity packs. They have joined virtual camps and sleepovers, camping in the garden or building indoor dens or pillow forts. In May 2020, Derbyshire Girlguiding organised a countywide virtual camp, with 6000 girls from around the globe participating!

There has been much fundraising for the NHS, the British Legion’s 11/11 Appeal, sponsored miles challenges to help maintain the Guide Garden and for numerous individual charities. Girls have helped to cheer up local communities, from the youngest Rainbows creating daffodil pictures for windows and Brownies making green hearts and painted pebbles to decorate community spaces, through to Guides and Rangers making cards, bookmarks, gifts and tree decorations for Cheer Hampers delivered to local homes. Briefly, outdoor Guiding resumed in the early autumn with socially distanced activities including campfire cooking, archery, tennis, town and country trails, as well as Duke of Edinburgh’s Expeditions. When lockdown returned, girls joined in a virtual camp/sleepover and went back to virtual meetings, enjoying murder mysteries, escape rooms, Window Wonder and recycle challenges. One unit had a goat attend virtually!

Local Guides joined with other girls in the Midlands Region to experience a virtual international activity weekend with myriad activities from line dancing, yoga, Zumba, exploring with the Navy and Army, to cooking and learning how to care for hedgehogs. Adult volunteers also enjoyed sessions including laughing yoga, crafts, advent calendar making and learning to cook an Indian meal via a Zoom link to the International Guide Centre in Pune, India.

Girlguiding is the leading charity for girls and young women in the UK, with over 500,000 members. It is great fun for everyone, including the volunteer leaders. If you are looking for a new direction for volunteering as we come out of lockdown, think of Girlguiding. There are currently spaces for girls across all the age groups. For more information go to www.girlguiding.org.uk or message @GirlguidingAmberValley.

School Information

Ambergate Primary School 01773 852204 Anthony Gell School 01629 825577 Belper Long Row Primary 01773 823319 Belper School 01773 825281 Breadsall CofE VE Primary School 01332 831328 Codnor Community Primary School 01773 742537 C of E Controlled Denby Free C of E Primary 01332 880416 Ecclesbourne School 01332 840645 Fritchley CE (Aided) Primary 01773 852216 Heage Primary School 01773 852188 Heanor Gate Science College 01773 716396 Herbert Strutt Primary 01773 822771 Holbrook C of E Primary 01332 880277 Horsley C of E Primary 01332 880782 Horsley Woodhouse Primary 01332 880403 John Flamsteed Community School 01332 880260 Kilburn Infant & Nursery School 01332 880449 Kilburn Junior 01332 880540 Langley Mill (CE) Controlled Infant School & Nursery 01773 713429 Little Eaton Primary 01332 831471 Mapperley CofE Primary School 0115 9325386 Meadows Primary 01332 840305 Milford Primary 01332 841316 Morley Primary 01332 831295 Pottery Primary 01773 823383 Richardson Endowed Primary School 01332 880317 Ripley Junior School 01773 742281 St Andrew’s C of E Primary School 0115 9324252 St Benedict 01332 557032 St Elizabeth’s Catholic Primary 01773 822278 St John’s CE Primary, Belper 01773 822995 Stanley Common Primary School 0115 9322437 Street Lane Primary 01773 742717 Swanwick Hall School 01773 602106 Turnditch CE VA Primary 01773 550304 William Gilbert Primary 01332 840395

School Terms 2021/2022

All dates taken from www.derbyshire.gov.uk Term 5: Monday 19 April 2021 to Friday 28 May 2021 Term 6: Monday 7 June 2021 to Thursday 22 July 2021 Term 1: Thursday 2 September 2021 to Friday 22 October 2021 Term 2: Monday 1 November 2021 to Thursday 23 December 2021 Term 3: Monday 10 January 2022 to Friday 18 February 2022 Term 4: Monday 28 February 2022 to Friday 8 April 2022

The Duke of Edinburgh Prince Philip

With the sad passing of the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip on

• Prince Philip was born in Greece in 1921. As the country at that time was still using the Julian calendar, in his home country he was actually born on 28th May, not 10th June. • Philip began using his mother’s surname Mountbatten in 1947. His father’s family name was

Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg so the change is understandable. • All three of Philip’s sisters had married German noblemen before his marriage in 1947 (a fourth sister had died in 1937). At the time of the Royal Wedding in 1947, there was considerable anti-German sentiment in Britain and consequently none of his sisters attended the ceremony. • Philip founded the Duke of Edinburgh Awards in 1956. The scheme operates in more than 140 countries and has been a huge international success. • Philip was interviewed on the BBC’s current affairs programme, Panorama, on 29th May 1961. TV. • Prince Philip was involved in more than 700 different organisations during his lifetime. By the

events and delivered around 5500 speeches. • No previous male royal had lived as long as Prince Philip and his 73-year marriage to the Queen remains the longest in royal history.

Photograph by Allan Warren, distributed under a CA-SA 3.0 license. He

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